Saturday, July 28, 2007

Hazy Blue Day

Well here I sit on a Saturday morning scrubbed clean and ready to face a hazy blue day. I didn't do too much with my week other than work. My friend Nicole engaged me in a gchat about the Cocteau Twins and since then I've had their songs floating through my head which reminded me that I have a ton of their lps still in Portland- in fact I think that 50% of my vinyl collection is probably the Cocteau Twins and The Cure. Speaking of music I've been listening to Slowdive's Just For A Day album on my way to work- it's still so good and I can remember them opening up for Catherine Wheel who were supporting their Ferment album- yep I've been around for a while now...

Thursday I swung by Sharon's (Mobile Libris) new spot and met my friend Daniel there. We had a few beers and caught up for a bit then I went over to a spot on W 14th & 7th to meet Deepali and friends for D's (I noticed that her friends from college call her that!) bday dinner and drink. It was a tapas place and I found myself missing Barcelona and thinking I really need to take a vaca away from the states- it seems like it's been ages and perhaps it has been!

Last night I went to the Stain Bar/MiPo reading and that went well, then later met up with Graeme over on Hoyt and Union at a Wine Bar that I think I visit more often. Graeme's boss happens to be Prageeta's friend so Graeme and I walked her back to Prageeta and Dale's place where her friend is now living for "just under market value" then continued on to our own apartments.

Today I will search out a new breakfast place- I generally go to Bar Tabac but the foods not amazing and the service really does suck. I've worked in retail: bookstores, recordshops, clothing stores + a front desk at a Glaucoma clinic so I can only describe my expectations of service at super-duper low so here's to trying new breakfast places and that first cup of coffee!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Stain Bar Reading This Friday

If you want a poetry fix come out on Friday at 7 at Stain Bar. Here's the line up:

Richard Peabody, a prolific poet, fiction writer and editor, is an experienced teacher and important activist in the Washington , D.C. community of letters. He is the founder and co-editor of Gargoyle magazine and editor (or co-editor) of fourteen anthologies including Mondo Barbie, Mondo Elvis, Conversations with Gore Vidal, A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation, Alice Redux, Sex & Chocolate, Grace and Gravity: Fiction by Washington Area Women and Enhanced Gravity: More Fiction by Washington Area Women. He is the author of the novella Sugar Mountain, two short story collections, and six poetry collections. He is currently working on Electric Grace: Still More Fiction by Washington Area Women (forthcoming 2007). Peabody teaches at The Writer's Center and at Johns Hopkins University, where he has been presented the Faculty Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement. He lives and works in the Washington, D.C. area. You can find out more at: www.wikipedia.org and www.gargoylemagazine.com.

Nicole Steinberg is the Co-Editor of LIT and Associate Editor of BOMB Magazine. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Gulf Coast, McSweeney's Internet Tendency,The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel—Second Floor, PMS,Lumina, and Half Drunk Muse, and she writes for music webzine Axis of Live. She's the founder, curator and host of EARSHOT, a Brooklyn-based reading series dedicated to the work and presence of emerging writers in the New York City area. She lives in Queens, New York.


Cate Peebles was born in Pittsburgh and currently lives in Brooklyn. She is a graduate of Reed College and is currently enrolled in the MFA program at the New School. She works as an editorial assistant on an oral biography of George Plimpton that will be published by Random House in 2008.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Where I've Been/Where I'm At

Well Mondays being Mondays the week began with a shrug. Tuesday I caught the final performance of the Philharmonic Orchestra at Central Park and attempted to play Scrabble... I realized that I must still be on a monosyllabic kick because my words were short and oh-so-not-contenders.

Wednesday was a thrill of thrills since I left my apartment at 7 a.m. and despite the umbrella got throughly soaked in route to the subway- spent the entire day at work with wet feet then due to the steam explosion got evacuated from Grand Central Station on my way home- midtown was so many degrees of madness so I wound up walking from 41st and Madison to 23rd and 6th to catch the F back home.

Thursday barely said hello.

Friday wore a sly wink which said you'll stay at home, watch a boring movie, and go to bed early.

Thus far Saturday has remained silent.

And tomorrow I'll probably try and go see Band of Horse at McCarren Pool Park. I think I've seen a free show every week for a while now so why stop, right?

Monday, July 16, 2007

Will It Rain?

I'm going to try and go to the New York Philharmonic tomorrow evening at Central Park... say hello if you go, that is, if it doesn't get rained out- which is what happened last week so go ahead and be cautiously reckless and cross those toes for me.

That Time Of Year Plea aka My Friend Needs A Place To Live

I have a good friend who's looking for an apartment or share, preferably in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Ideal locations are LES, Chinatown ('specially the Grand street area as opposed to Canal), Soho, Nolita, E/W.Village, Union Square, Fort Greene, Williamsburg, Prospect Hieghts, Dumbo, etc... so if you know of anything please pass it on.

By the way, I'm readling Lonely Planet London- if you've been there have favorite spots, bars, cafes, pass that on too!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Thising & Thating

Been reading the Spring 2007 ish of Conduit and overall I think it's pretty good, also reading the lastest print installment of Shiny. Bought them both at St. Marks Bookstore.

It's been a bit busy at work, I've gotten a couple more rejection emails, have eaten too many meals alone, and wrote a poem during my lunch break. Other/ than/ that/

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

A Poem

Sequel to a Legend

There is already a legend about us
on the ancient urn
but you still keep on asking
if it is worth it
of course fire can be extinguished by the wind
and a mountain peak might fall down at dawn
and melt into a funereal night's river
the bitter fruits of love
will drop when they ripen
here and now
as long as we have the setting sun to crown us
everything that follows after
counts for nothing
-- the endless night
a moment of tossing and silence


Bei Dao
from The August Sleepwalker (New Directions Press)

The Fourth Day Is A Gray Day

No surprise it will prob rain like hell today... last year a bunch of us went to see Belle & Sebastion and it rained for a bit then stopped but this year I think once it starts it will go on and on, perhaps even longer than a Built to Spill jam!

Anyways, I'm all showered and ready to do whatever with my day- my friend Kiely wants people to meet up at Prospect Park but I don't think I'm the only one the weather has turned skeptic.... My friends Haley Heaten (who's poem I posted on here maybe in May) and her roommate Cate Peebles have been kind enough to invite me to a rooftop bbq- but I don't think that'll happpen either.... My friend Audrey is having an indoor party with the grill on her terrace, but Sandy (ex-gf) and I are getting tired of going to the same parties and logically so so I'll skip Audrey's as well especially since I'll see some of them in a few weeks for the orchestra in Central Park!

Today seems a good enough day to drink too much coffee and do some work on the good 'ol ms- Single Male Seeking and perhaps call my friend Joseph and see what's happening with him and Anna in Chicago.